UPS ‘Futureproofs’ Airbus A300s with Primus Epic - AIN Online
UPS expects to extend the service life on its Airbus A300s by at least another 20 years with a project to upgrade their cockpits with Honeywell Primus Epic avionics. Speaking with reporters on a videoconference Monday, UPS Aircraft Maintenance director of engineering Ed Walton said the upgrade to UPS’s 52 A300s will also allow for further operational flexibility, giving pilots more ready access to airports, for example.
“That’s the real challenge with the growing databases,” explained Walton. “As the airports continue creating more departures and arrivals [and] your database doesn’t include [them], you get pretty much kicked out the queue and you have to hold until the airport has time to deal with you. So by doing this, we future-proofed this airplane.”
Honeywell calls the “really serious upgrade” to the cockpits a first-of-its-kind endeavor for the A300s, all of which UPS took new from Airbus from between 2000 and 2006.
UPS expects to extend the service life on its Airbus A300s by at least another 20 years with a project to upgrade their cockpits with Honeywell Primus Epic avionics. Speaking with reporters on a videoconference Monday, UPS Aircraft Maintenance director of engineering Ed Walton said the upgrade to UPS’s 52 A300s will also allow for further operational flexibility, giving pilots more ready access to airports, for example.
“That’s the real challenge with the growing databases,” explained Walton. “As the airports continue creating more departures and arrivals [and] your database doesn’t include [them], you get pretty much kicked out the queue and you have to hold until the airport has time to deal with you. So by doing this, we future-proofed this airplane.”
Honeywell calls the “really serious upgrade” to the cockpits a first-of-its-kind endeavor for the A300s, all of which UPS took new from Airbus from between 2000 and 2006.
